Okay, so I have written Charmed fanfic a long time ago but I have only recently ventured back into it. This story will deal with themes that are very personal to me such as platonic love, adoption and above all, the power that is gained from strong familial bonds. This is set after P3 H20 but before Ms. Hellfire and will change canon quite a bit as you will see.


1. My Little Sister

Dammit! Prue could not bring herself to find an explanation for why this had happened. How could her mom keep their baby half-sister a secret from her?

"We had no choice," Sam explained to Prue. "If the Elders found out about her existence, it would affect the Charmed Ones."

Prue pressed down on the accelerator as she sped up across the highway, not sure why she was even going to the address she found but she had to see her. The reason Sam had given wasn't enough. Paige wasn't responsible for the actions of her mother and their whitelighter. She wanted to see what her baby sister was like. Know her – see what her life was like not knowing her family, her sisters. Was she happy? Had her adoptive parents been good to her? According to Darryl, she lived with her aunt and uncle and was in college studying to be a social worker. That was good – it meant she had vision. Paige Matthews – her baby sister, the one that had been kept from them. It was always about the greater good with them but to this extent? She didn't understand why.

Had Grams known? Well, of course, she had known, magic could hide a lot of things, but she wasn't sure if it could hide a pregnancy. She honked her horn before pressing down on the brakes, being flung forward from the impact but managing to catch herself as she parked the car. This was the house. She slowly got out of the car and headed to the door, pausing for a moment. What would she say? She couldn't exactly say she was Paige's older sister, they wouldn't let her in. Maybe she could call herself a friend, or someone who knew Paige from around. That sounded like an odd excuse even to her. Maybe she should go home. Piper and Phoebe were probably getting worried anyway.

No. I've come this far. I have to know. I have to know what she's like. She couldn't explain this longing for the sister she had never even met but she was still her sister. It didn't change that. She knocked on the door, deciding it didn't matter what excuse she came up with – she would see her sister, meet her sister. The door opened.

"Hello, can I help you?" The woman asked kindly.

"Hi," Prue said with a soft smile. "I wanted to meet Paige. I've seen her around. Is she home?"

"Are you a friend?" The woman asked.

"More of an acquaintance," Prue said simply. "I really want to meet Paige though. I won't take long."

The woman watched her for a moment before nodding. "Come on in. I'm Paige's aunt Julie. I'll call her. Why don't you take a seat?"

"Thank you," Prue said, moving to sit down and looked around. The house may have been small, but it was nice. Was Paige happy here? Was this similar to the house she had grown up in with her adoptive parents? Had she ever tried to find out who her real parents were? Did she know that she had sisters? She couldn't imagine growing up without Piper or Phoebe, even though they didn't always get along.

Ever since becoming the Charmed Ones, they had become sisters again because they had been forced to stick together. If Paige had grown up with them, would she have been a Charmed One too? The Power of Three had always been so strong, so adding in another sister would have only given more power, wouldn't it have?

She was brought out of the questions her mind was whirling with as Paige stepped into the room. Despite having never met this girl before, it was easy to tell with her looks alone that she definitely was a Halliwell, last name or not. She had dark hair and pale skin like the rest of them did.

"Hey," Paige said softly. "Aunt Julie said you wanted to see me. Do I know you? It might sound a bit strange, but I feel like we've met before."

"I'm Prue," Prue replied. "Prue Halliwell. I know what you mean." They hadn't met but there was something that pulled her towards the younger girl. The girl chuckled a little.

"Ah okay," Paige said, shaking her head. "You're Piper's sister? The owner of P3?"

Paige had been to P3? Funny how things slipped by a person when they didn't have the information they needed. Still, it would be a good excuse to get to know her if she came to the club. No. She couldn't do that. Sam had said that something bad could happen if the Elders ever found out about her – and she didn't know whether that meant for them as the Charmed Ones or for Paige. Either way, she wouldn't allow anything to hurt any of her sisters. Be it the ones she had sworn to protect or the one that she didn't know anything about right now.

"Yeah, Piper's my younger sister," Prue replied. "I have seen you around P3 too." Okay, that wasn't actually the truth but why else would she, a random stranger, show up at her house out of nowhere?

"Great," Paige said simply. "So, what made you come here?"

Okay, so while she had thought of many excuses she could say to Paige's aunt and uncle but when Paige asked the question of why she was here, she didn't have a clear answer. What could she say that wouldn't sound odd? She couldn't exactly come out and say that she was Paige's long-lost sister, who had never even known about her until recently because Paige would either kick her out or look at her as if she was crazy. Neither seemed like the best first impression and if there was one thing, she had learned from working at an auction house was that the first impression was the one that other people remembered.

"I'm not really sure," Prue said simply. "I felt a pull towards you and had to see why it was. I know that sounds a little bizarre but…" It didn't even sound like a plausible excuse in her own mind, let alone enough to explain it to anyone else.

"No, it doesn't," Paige said and for the first time since she had come here, their eyes met, and her younger sister smiled. "It makes more sense than you know."